September 22, 2007

T. Thomas, Lake, Hull and Bockheim win Features
T. Thomas, Bursley, Tillema and Stormzand named 2007 Champions

Marne, MI-- Berlin Raceway saw four champions crowned on Saturday night as points battles came to an end for the 2007 season on Championship Night. Tom Thomas, Mike Bursley, Brian Tillema and Andy Stormzand all clinched the 2007 championships in their respective divisions tonight. Thomas claimed back-to-back championships while Bursley, Tilllema and Stormzand were first-time champions. In tonight's feature races, Tom Thomas, Dave Lake, Dave Hull and Terry Bockheim took home the trophies.

The Instant Cash Advance Sportsman division kicked the night off with a caution-free feature with #6 Terry Bockheim and #22 Ken Roelofs on the front row. Bockheim took the lead from the drop of the green flag while fast qualifier #15 Garison Jewett, who started 7th, was steadily moving through the field, passing #33 Allen Davis for 4th on lap 10. It took Jewett 3 laps to catch #97 Andy Stormzand who was entrenched in a battle for 2nd with Roelofs. The 3-car battle for second allowed Bockheim to pull away. Stormzand got by Roelofs with two laps to go and was making a run at Bockheim, but Stormzand ran out of time. Bockheim lead all of the laps and got his second win of the season; Stormzand, Jewett, Roelofs, A. Davis, #11 Tim Stuart, #81 Marc Coleman, #57 Allan Troup, #67 Mike Welch and #40 Dave Culter made up the top ten. Andy Stormzand was crowned the 2007 Instant Cash Advance Sportsman Champion by 210 points over Jewett.

The Coors Light Late Model feature rolled next; #57 Alan Marcott and #28 Scott Thomas led the field to their final green flag of the season. On the start, S. Thomas had the advantage and took the lead from Marcott and two laps later, #82 Tom Thomas got around Marcott as well. The cars settled in to single file until lap 24 when T. Thomas caught and passed S. Thomas for the lead. T. Thomas pulled away from the field and by lap 42, #222 Caleb Bisacky was battling S. Thomas for second; he made the pass with three laps to go. T. Thomas got his 8th win of the season in dominating fashion; 8.299 seconds over Bisacky. The rest of the top ten were S. Thomas, Marcott, #00 Ross Meeuwsen, #27 Billy Shotko, #77 Terry VanHaitsma, #1 Randy Sweet, #30 Bryan Clay and #6 Dave Zagaiski. Tom Thomas was also named the 2007 Coors Light Late Model Champion for the second year in a row, 270 points ahead of Terry VanHaitsma.

In the De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock division, the drivers had a little trouble getting the race started as caution was out before a lap was completed; #11 Nick Bonstell spun out of turn 3. After a complete restart, #51 Weston Jewett took off with the lead and there was a 3-wide battle for 2nd between #76 Brian Tillema, Bonstell and #20 Dave Hull. Hull was making impressive moves to get to the front, getting by Tillema and Bonstell and quickly closing on Jewett by lap 9. Lap 14 saw a pass for lead, Hull got by Jewett while #15 Scott Root was coming on strong. Root blew by Tillema and Jewett in the same lap and began to reel Hull in on lap 18. Caution was out again on lap 18 for an incident involving #51 Weston Jewett, #76 Ryan Gruppen and #24 Lee VanDyk. With 6 laps to go, Root and Hull were in a fierce battle for the lead. It looked like Root was going to get by, but on the last lap, he lost ground; Hull got his second win of the season and celebrated by doing donuts on the frontstretch. Root, Tillema, #52, Bruce Chase, Gruppen, #5 Jack Russell, Bonstell, #8 Kevin DeGood, #80 Jason Hoogerhyde and #10 Justin Regnerus rounded out the top ten. The 2007 De-Jay Slick Truck Pro Stock Champion was also named; Brian Tillema earned the title, beating VanDyk by 47 points.

The Engine Pro Super Stocks 30-lap feature was the final event of the evening; #5 Ray VanAllsburg and #15 Mat McClarren started on the front row. After running side-by side on lap 1, VanAllsburg was the leader, but he wasn’t able to get a comfortable lead as #71 Kyle Ballard was on his bumper. #55 Dave Lake joined the battle for the lead a few laps later and deeper in the field, the points contenders #23 Mike Bursley and #1 Brian Wiersma were battling for the 7th position. The first of six cautions came out on lap 9; #18 Denny Anderson, #10 Bob Spencer and #78 Tony Staffen spun in turn 2. On the restart, leader VanAllsburg was under attack by Ballard, but caution flew again 3 laps later for the spinning car of #88 Tim Sweeney. The restart was single file, but Bursley was on a mission to get around Wiersma, he finally made the pass on him on lap 16. Meanwhile, the battle for the lead was heating up between VanAllsburg, Ballard, Lake and #X Ray Clay. After another caution and restart, Ballard was still pressuring VanAllsburg and Bursley was tearing through the field. On lap 25, caution was out again, #12 Josh Slade’s car came to a stop by the turn 4 pit gate. After the track was clear, they were back to racing; once again, Ballard was on VanAllsburg’s bumper. The caution that changed the face of the points race came out on lap 25. Wiersma, who went in to the feature 7 points behind Bursley, made contact with #77 Andrew Nylaan going in to turn 2. Wiersma and Bliss went off the backstretch and #8 Billy Eppink was also caught up in the incident. With five laps to go, Lake was making strides to pass Ballard and 3-wide battle for the lead ended up with VanAllsburg spinning out with one lap to go. Ballard inherited the lead, but by the time the cars got back to the stripe, Lake had made the pass on the outside and won his second race of the season, celebrating with donuts on the frontstretch. Ballard, Clay, Bursley, #15 Pete Ruttan, Bliss, McClarren, #13 James Haney, Spencer and #F1 Randy Veldman were the top ten. The 2007 Engine Pro Super Stock Champion was Mike Bursley by 29 points over Brian Wiersma.

The night was capped off with a terrific fireworks display and a post-race celebration on the frontstretch with the 2007 Champions.

Up next is the Open Wheel Extravaganza presented by Auto Value is scheduled for Saturday, September 29. It will feature ISMA Supermodifieds with Johnny Benson and Randy Sweet, Auto Value Super Sprints and USAC/UMARA/WOMS Midgets. Tickets are $20 for adults; half price for kids 6 to 12 and free for kids 5 and under. Pit passes for those 16 and over are $25. October events at Berlin Raceway include Bus Mania on Saturday October 6 and the season finale is the 4-Cylinder 150- lap Enduro on October 13.

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